


Crimson Moon

by SeleneLawfulGood



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: -Ish, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Horror, Human Catra (She-Ra), Mystery, Trans Catra (She-Ra), Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-23 05:01:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20237161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeleneLawfulGood/pseuds/SeleneLawfulGood
Summary: Catra and Adora have planned their first vacation as girlfriends after Adora's graduation, to spend some time together, just the two of them.It doesn't go like they thought.





	Crimson Moon

**Author's Note:**

> I always wanted to try my hand at horror, and here we are.
> 
> I plan for this to be a short story, or shorter than the others that I have in progress at least, so expect that I guess.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

_Red, as far as the eye can see._

_A shade similar to the color of blood, but lighter and brighter._

_The land, the trees, the water, all is red._

_The shade is not natural, rather, it is as if it came from some light source high up in the sky, casting itself all over the place._

_But there is nothing up above that cause such a phenomenon._

_Everything still acts as if so._

_There is, however, a reflection on the lake._

_An object with an apparently circular shape. Apparently, as the water makes it difficult to see it clearly enough. _

_It is big, overwhelmingly so, enough to cover almost the entire surface. Either that, far too close to comfort, though a quick glance upwards will confirm that there is nothing up above._

_It is red as well, just as red as everything else._

_It has a presence, magnetic, as if to draw other beings to it, and it is strong, too strong to resist._

_Once close enough, the entire form shakes._

_And-_

* * *

I woke up with a start.

I was noticeably sweating, and had a scream nearly out of my mouth. I looked around in a sort of dazed panic, but everything looked exactly like it had right before I apparently fell asleep: no red, no… whatever that _thing _was, just a normal train inside, and a clear night sky with the stars, the moon and a bunch of clouds outside.

_Just a stupid nightmare_

I took a deep breath, and slowly calmed down, trying to forget the images.

It was annoying that I hadn’t managed to stay awake, especially seeing as my destination was immediately next according to the screen on the train, but I hadn’t _passed _it so it didn’t really bother me.

The sudden rumbling on my pocket startled me a little, before realizing it was just my phone. I picked it up, rolling my eyes, and saw a few notifications from games I still had installed but hadn’t played in months, another one from the college app about a test, most likely telling me that I hadn’t passed it, I didn’t need to look at it to know, and… a few missed calls alongside a single voice message from Adora.

_Crap_

I almost decided to not open it and subsequently inform her that I’d seen it, maybe avoid it until tomorrow. I almost slapped myself for having that thought immediately after, I was _not_ going to worry her more than she already – probably – was, so I tapped it, input my password, and listened.

_“Hey babe, I just wanted to tell you to ignore those calls, because that was just me being a worrywart and not realizing that you’re probably sleeping because it’s kind of a long trip and not having an accident or something”_ she laughed, nervously _“and, well, just, call me when you get there?, be safe, I love you”_

I looked at the screen for a few more moments, before turning it off and clutching the phone close to my chest, as a substitute for her physical presence. I didn’t deserve a girlfriend like her, I really didn’t, but I was just so glad she still put up with me, that she was still with me…

(-afraid that she would abandon me)

I cut that line of thought, and took a deep breath.

No more moping like this, this was supposed to be our vacation, and I refused to let my insecurities ruin it. Even if I _could_ mope a bit right now because she was either a few hours or around a day from coming, depending on whether her boss decided to be a dick or not. I was going to enjoy myself, even before she arrived, and that was final.

I turned the screen on again and stared at the wallpaper, caressing Adora’s beaming face right next to mine on that photo we took during her graduation party, careful not to scratch the screen with my nails. A small smile crossed my face, _I_ _love_ _her_ _so_ _much_.

The rest of the more or less half an hour that the ride took, I spent watching any video that could help me avoid falling asleep again. Not very entertaining, sure, but it passed the time. Then I arrived, grabbed my bags – which consisted on a medium size suitcase with my clothes and hygiene stuff, and the backpack I’d had since starting college with my laptop and some more stuff that didn’t fit into the suitcase – and left.

There was just one person at the station, a security guard, who seemed pretty surprised to see me here. More than a bit weird that he was alone, it wasn’t even that late.

Outside of the station the situation was similar, zero people in sight, and the only building in the area – a shop of some kind, the sign was old, dirty and very hard to read – was closed. I walked down the stone stairs to the “plaza”, if one could even call it that with how empty it was, and looked around for the sign that marked the direction of the town. Not that I wanted to go there, but my destination was just past it, so it was either that or getting lost in the woods.

The path was straightforward, but it did go right in between the middle of said woods, which suffice to say did _not_ help me relax, with it being so fucking full of trees you couldn’t even see the sky. I remembered some legends and stuff about ‘things’ living in there that could snatch you away to never be seen again, without anyone noticing you had even disappeared, but I’d never truly believed on those: my fear was the much more plausible one of getting eaten by a pack of hungry wolves.

A while later, a few lights appeared in the distance. I started walking a little faster, assuming the lights meant that I was near the town, and a few minutes later I was proven right.

I know it had been years since I last saw this place but it felt… worse than I remembered. I mean, it looked fine, most people wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with it if they came here: the buildings were fine, the streets were clean, all that stuff.

But it was just so… _eerie_. I wouldn’t know how to describe it in any detail if I was asked, maybe it was just my bias against this place, but the feeling _was_ there.

I wanted to be out of here as soon as fucking possible.

I grabbed my phone again and looked at the messages for the address again. I’d have asked someone for directions, but I hadn’t seen anyone yet, and I absolutely wasn’t to go looking for someone and stay any longer than I needed to, so I was on my own.

_This is going to take a while._

* * *

It took far too long.

It was midnight, _midnight!_, it hadn’t been even 11pm when I started searching.

My legs hurt, and I wanted to sleep.

_This woman better be awake or I’m going to murder someone_.

Her house was one I didn’t have any recollection of it being there before – which made me want to kick myself in the back of the head for not finding it earlier: drab, grey, with one window in the to the right of the door, and two floors. Probably newer than most, which made sense because she apparently hadn’t been living here for long (why she would want to live here at all though, _that_ escaped me).

Too tired and irritated to bother picking up my phone again and messaging her, I rang, the sound of the doorbell echoing through the entire street far too uncomfortably loud. I had the momentary instinct to just run away and hide just in case I had woken someone up.

I heard somewhat loud steps behind the door in front of me, accompanied by a voice I couldn’t quite understand. Then the door opened and… _wow_.

“Mmh… don’t you think it’s a little late to be calling?” said the white-haired amazon on a black tank-top and shorts, while rubbing one of her eyes with the palm of her hand.

I… did _not_ expect the kind of woman with a chibi scorpion as an avatar to look like this.

It took me a few moments to snap out of it, and a few more to regain enough confidence to speak, while she just kept staring at me with a tired look on her face “hi, I-I’m Catra, you told me to meet you so you could give me the keys, and s-sorry for the hour” I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head.

She stopped her movements suddenly, blinked, and then a big dorky smile formed on her face accompanied by a surge of energy that she didn’t have a moment ago.

“Catra!, oh my gosh, I thought you weren’t going to come today, wait a second here” she headed back inside as I raised my hand, before I could stop her.

Barely a minute later, she opened the door again, more dressed – now with a coat and shoes – and closed the door behind her-_what?_

“Where are you going?”

She looked at me, slightly confused.

“With you, to show you the way to the house?” she answered, in an ‘isn’t it obvious’ kind of way. Because it actually was, I had just realized, I didn’t know _where_ it was, just how it and its immediate surroundings looked like. Better than having to go back here and spending more time than necessary in this place because I didn’t think ahead (which _yes, okay_, I hadn’t).

The trip took us back to the forest from a different side – which itself surrounded the town from all sides – after a few minutes of more empty streets. It was honestly starting to creep me out. The trek through the forest, however, was significantly less unnerving this time around, since I wasn’t alone and all that, and Scorpia was so tall and buff-

I immediately stopped the thought the moment I felt my cheeks redden.

_You have a girlfriend, for fuck’s sake_

I almost prayed the woman hadn’t seen it.

“So, how have you found this place?”

And internally thanked her for giving me a topic to talk about.

“Well, it… it’s been better than I expected, I guess?” she hummed, with a confused look on her face “I mean, I’ve been here before, and it didn’t really go well” _a very attractive dork that I barely know is a pretty big improvement._ The thought didn’t make me blush this time.

“Oh, sorry that happened. I’ve only been here for a few months, but it hasn’t been bad honestly, maybe it’s changed since you came?”

“Maybe”

It could have, but I didn’t count on it. I also didn’t feel jealous or angry at her for having been treated better than I was, that’s something that old Catra would have done, and that person was dead and buried, exactly as it should be.

We spent the remainder of the way in an awkward silence, presumably my fault.

The house made itself visible not too much later: wooden, pretty wide, with three windows – one besides the door, the other two further up – and a porch on the front, and tall enough to have two floors. It looked almost new too, like it hadn’t, or had barely, even been used.

“Here we are!” she said, seemingly having already recovered from the somewhat botched conversation attempt. She approached the door and opened it, pointing at me to enter “after you”

She guided me through the house, which did indeed have two floors, even if the upper one was just a room and a bathroom, telling me where everything was (or, well, the essentials at least. She explained that she hadn’t used this house too much, already having her main one in the town itself, and didn’t remember where _everything_ was).

With that done, she finally gave me the keys.

“You have my number in case something breaks or you get stuck inside, right?” I was about to answer with an ‘obviously’, but she beat me to that by facepalming barely a second later “right, of course you do, that was a stupid question”

“Don’t worry about it, really, it’s not like the thing’s going to explode or anything”

She sighed and smiled “yeah, okay” though a little reticent, she walked down the small set of stairs on the porch and waved “you and your girlfriend have fun while you’re here, bye!”

I smiled and waved back, but didn’t go back in until I saw her disappear, her form hidden by the trees. I closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. She was a little overwhelming, but very nice in a way that put you at ease – or at least she seemed like it from the outside, one could never be completely sure.

I went to the room in the upper floor, left my stuff there, messaged Adora to tell her that I was here and fine, and quickly changed into my pajamas after taking my nightly estrogen. Then I sloppily undid the bed and flopped down on it after turning off the light.

I couldn’t help but miss my girlfriend’s presence, but the knowledge that she _was_ going to be here soon made me feel a little better. Besides, there was nothing I could do about that now, _no use getting worked up about it_.

I closed my eyes, hugging the pillow tightly, and managed to fall asleep soon after.

* * *

_All is red once more._

_The shape on the surface on the lake looks like it is barely keeping itself still._

_The intent it radiates… it wants to move, to act._

_It wants to leave. _

_However, as overwhelming as that desire is, it does not have the means to accomplish it._

_But then, the shape starts shaking, violently._

_A moment later, it opens._

_And it **sees.**_


End file.
